The modern trend of widespread access to digital video, along with increased availability of low cost computing devices for rendering video and audio media content, has fueled a an increase in multimedia (i.e. audio/video) programming available for remote transmission (i.e. downloading) over public access networks such as the Internet. Personal audio devices, such as MP3 players and the well-known Ipod® personal audio device, allow users to download digital music selections on a fee for services basis. More recently, video programming has become feasible to provide to individual users on a demand basis, allowing users, or subscribers, to select, download and view video on a PC, laptop, and even video enabled cell phones, PDAs, and other suitable personal communication devices.
In video program delivery, advertising media often forms a substantial aspect of revenue generation in the respective business model. Advertisers insert advertising media in video program content either as so-called “banners” around the outside margins, or as a brief substitution for the main video program, as with a traditional TV commercial. Similar to popular Internet pages, content providers often allow the video program content to be downloaded without a specific fee since the content provider has embedded the video program content with advertising media. In such a model, the advertiser promoting the advertising media typically has a fee-for-services arrangement with the program content provider, and in effect “pays” for the “free” download by the subscriber. In this manner, a content provider makes program content available to a user for download along with the included advertising media.